(Remember: don't just repeat! Find a phrase from the novel no one has mentioned yet and bring it into the discussion, explaining how it gives helpful information.)
In this reading, the shaykh accuses Ahmad of two things that go against his religion: he has affairs with women outside of marriage, and he drinks wine.
1. Can you make sense of Ahmad's defense against each accusation? Try to put them in your own words.
OR
2. The author speculates as to how, psychologically speaking, Ahmad can be devout (devoted to God) and sinful (disobedient to God) at the same time (pp. 41-42). Can you put into your own words what the author thinks about this puzzle?
OR
3. Does this chapter make you feel more positively, less postively, or the same twoard Ahmad? Why?
OR
4. Notice something that no one else has noticed so far.
In this reading, the shaykh accuses Ahmad of two things that go against his religion: he has affairs with women outside of marriage, and he drinks wine.
1. Can you make sense of Ahmad's defense against each accusation? Try to put them in your own words.
OR
2. The author speculates as to how, psychologically speaking, Ahmad can be devout (devoted to God) and sinful (disobedient to God) at the same time (pp. 41-42). Can you put into your own words what the author thinks about this puzzle?
OR
3. Does this chapter make you feel more positively, less postively, or the same twoard Ahmad? Why?
OR
4. Notice something that no one else has noticed so far.
14 comments:
Yeena Sung
3. Does this chapter make you feel more positively, less postively, or the same twoard Ahmad? Why?
“Why is it wrong for me, for me, after that, to refresh myself with a little fun, harming no one, or for me to overlook one rule?”
This Chapter makes me feel the same or worse toward Ahmad. I do not think that it is right to think that enjoying alcohol and hanging out with women other than her wife is a part of having a little fun. I don’t think that what he refers to as a little fun is not an excuse when you believe in religion and it tells you certain things not to do. If everyone who believes in certain religion and it says not to do something, you are not supposed to do it if you want to be a religious person. That is why it is so hard to believe in a certain religion, because you need to know how to resist yourself from doing something. However, Ahmad doesn’t think that way and I do not like the fact that he thinks it is ok to have a little fun, and after that, coming back to his religion. Also, he mentions that the fun that he is having does not harm anyone, but as always, he forgot about some people. His wife and his children has a hard time because of him having a “little fun”.
2. The author speculates as to how, psychologically speaking, Ahmad can be devout (devoted to God) and sinful (disobedient to God) at the same time (pp. 41-42). Can you put into your own words what the author thinks about this puzzle?
On page 42 it is stated, "He was exercising a right granted him by life..."
This means that because God has given Ahmad life, he should enjoy it. Life is a gift from God, so to honor God, one should use it to its full capacity.
However, the ways that Ahmad enjoys life are "sinful". He persues beautiful women who he has not married, he drinks eccessively, and he parties. He sins to enjoy life, but he is devout to God by not wasting a moment of what he is given.
He sees life as a gift from God, and what better way to thank the Lord than to use his gift well? The question, though, is: Is he misusing it? God gave him life, but maybe he expected it to be used more responsibly, rather than used for so much personal pleasure.
What Ahmad believes it that he is devout by enjoying God's greatest gift, and he is sinful by enjoying life through sin and indulgence.
Sang Eun
3. Does this chapter make you feel more positively, less postively, or the same twoard Ahmad? Why?
As I was reading through this chapter, it made me feel both positively and negatively toward Ahmad. The part where tells that Ahmad is different when he is with his family and with other people, makes me to feel positively toward him. The reason is that it shows that he is a person with friendly and charming personality. Also, when he is having conversation with shaykh, he jokes a lot and that shows that he is a humerous man. On the other hand, the part where he talks about his religion with shaykh makes me feel negatively toward him, because he doesn't seem to be sincere and truly believe in his god. I don't think that it is inappropriate for him to enjoy his life by drinking and having fun with other women. However, if he has own religion which bans those behaviors, then he should not do it. He says that he worships his god sincerely but his behavior doesn't prove it. He should be a man who has same inside and outside.
1. Can you make sense of Ahmad's defense against each accusation? Try to put them in your own words.
Ahmad's retort to the Shayk's first accusation concerning Ahmad's "lust for women", is the natural and anticipated reaction of most people who find themselves under the affliction of an addiction or a personal problem of some sort: He puts the blame on a third party or someone else involved with the situation as a form of justification for actions obviously unjust, in this case, he blames the "Messenger of God" for having similar desires.
As for Shaykh's second accusation regarding Ahmad's problem with wine, Ahmad goes so far as to claim that he pays god back for the sins he commits by being very devoted to him. However, this is a poor excuse, and Ahmad never does take any time to examine his own character enough to understand what he's become as a human being, and quickly dismisses his borderline alcoholism as overlookable by his god. In reality, Ahmad simply wants to justify his questionable character traits to himself.
Question 3
3. Does this chapter make you feel more positively, less postively, or the same twoard Ahmad? Why?
I think this chapter makes me feel both positive and negative about Ahmad but I think it's mostly negative because of things that has
done. In the book when the author tells that he was also a nice and respectful person, it made me to feel positive about him because it was better than a man who is always harsh and scary. But, after reading that he goes around with another woman other than his wife (Amina) I think that was something that is not forgivable. And also i think that being with another woman was having no respect for the woman and for a wife.
Ka Yeon Nam
Question2
The author speculates as to how, psychologically speaking, Ahmad can be devout (devoted to God) and sinful (disobedient to God) at the same time (pp. 41-42). Can you put into your own words what the author thinks about this puzzle?
Ahmad is devoted to God and at the same time, sinful. Ahmad praise and is very devoted to God all the times and he believes that God is the most important thing in the world. However, he goes out drinking and partying. He also talks to his friends about un-married girls. Even though he is very devoted to God, he is actually sinful for his actions.
Heather Rhee
Q2
Answer
"His faith was deep"
"With the same ardent, overflowing vitality, he opened his breast to the joys and pleasures of life"
(p.42)
Ahmad believed God. According to the book, his faith was deep and it was noticeable that he was a huge believer of God because he worked on almsgiving, praying, and fasting all the time.
However, at the same time, he drinked a lot, enjoyed parties oftenly, and liked pretty girls, which is offensive toward his beliefs.
In my point of view, I think the auther is looking at Ahmad in a very plain way. He just described what Ahmad does in a objective way so it was not visible to see what author was thinking about the puzzles of Ahmad's 2 different personailities.
It was sure that Ahmad is a man who enjoys what he wants to do, eventhough it is a wrong way to appriciate to his God, at the same time when he is thankful about the time which God had given to him.
Emily Lee
3. Does this chapter make you feel more positively, less postively, or the same twoard Ahmad? Why?
This chapter strongly makes me feel less postively towards Ahmad. First, he is very evil in the house, but once he gets out, he is a totally different person. It is good that he is very charm and nice to people other than his family, but it is definitely not right. Family is something that means the most to your life. Of course the societies are important to anyones life too. But family is always before than anything else. He also goes around at night, and drinks. As he drinks, he enjoys his moment with other woman than his wife. That is not being religious to his God at all. He calls himself a very religious man, but he is not really a religious man if he is going to sin as much as nonreligious people.
3. Does this chapter make you feel more positively, less postively, or the same twoard Ahmad? Why?
"Using his faith, he set about performing all his duties to God, like prayer, fasting, or almsgiving, with love, ease, and happiness; not to mention a clear conscience, a heart abounding in love for people, and a soul that was generous in its gallantry and help for others."
This chapter makes me feel more positive toward Ahmad. The author shows a side of Ahmad that we really haven't seen before. We have only gotten to know his stern rough side when he really has a nice soft side to him. He cares a lot about the people around him. He likes to make them feel good and cares about their feelings. He is also a very religious man. He prays to God with the utmost sincerity in his heart. He might have some "good times" that he doesn't see as wrong or hurting anyone, but that does not make him a bad person. He loves to help others and he enjoys performing his duties towards with love and happiness.
Savannah,
question # 4,
I noticed that Ahmad kept making excuses for his sinful behavior. I also noticed he seem ready with his answers which might indicate that he's thout about his sins and wrong doings before and as the social perfectionist he is might have in fact needed to convince himself his actions were acceptable. If he had thought about his sins before then maybe he is fealing or was fealing a little more guilty then he lets on.
Sung Kun Kim
Q.3 Does this chapter make you fell more positively, less positively, or the same toward Ahmad? Why?
-In this chapter, Kamal recalls he got his feet beaten by his dad because he went up the ladder. Amina was so surprised and told Ahmad about what Kamal was up to. Ahmad ordered Kamal to come down and beat him with a stick. Kamal also remembered when his father was so loving and kind to him. But because of the ladder incident, I though that Ahmad is too cruel and mean to his family. Also I though that Ahmad was always so reticence because of his behavior at home. So after reading this chapter, I felt less positively toward Ahmad.
1. Can you make sense of Ahmad's defense against each accusation? Try to put them in your own words.
There are two main accusations in this set of the book as stated before by Mr. Durning, Ahmad's affair with women. and his thirst for wine.
When Ahmad is accused of having a "lust for women" he simply compares himself to the Messenger of love and how he in fact spoke of love for other women. He also states that he would not make the mistake his father did as to having many wives or women and having to divide wealth amoung them. Finally, he says that god has come to accept women who "sell" themselves.
"Even if they were forbidden, should they not be excused so long as no one was harmed?" This quote is showing that Ahmad believes if he harmed no one while under the influence of wine....if it should be wrong. He also restates this when saying "Why is it wrong for me, after that, to refresh myself with a little fun, harming no one, or for me to overlook one rule?"He feels having wine is not a sin as long as no one is harmed using this as an excuse.
Answer to #3:
This chapter makes me feel more positively towards Ahmad. Although he justifies his wrongdoing and sins, he seems to be truly repentant for it. He wonders in earnest as to how God could forbid his "pleasures", as indicated here:
"Was his faith in the divine magnanimity so strong that he could not believe these pleasures really had been forbidden?"
Even so, the shaykh knows that Ahmad has done wrong, and berates him for it. It seems to me that Ahmad won't give into the constant nagging, and continue with his immature behavior. These acts do not make a person bad; perhaps unethical, but not bad.
This chapter doesn't make feel so hot about Ahmad. I believe he doesn't really think before he acts therefore resulting, in someone getting hurt (emotionally) and yet he can be nice.
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